Examining the Beneficial Use and Regulation of Chemicals: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee Hearing

The Oversight Committee of the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works held a hearing on October 23rd titled:

Examining the Beneficial Use and Regulation of Chemicals (“Hearing”).

The Hearing included the following witnesses:

• Peter Huntsman, President and CEO,  Huntsman Corporation.
• Dr. Gwen Gross, Senior Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company.
• Dr. Tracey Woodruff, Professor and Director, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco.

Mr. Huntsman’s testimony addressed:

• The Huntsman Story
• Chemical Manufacturing, and Innovation
• How Things Are Made
• Essential to The American Way of Life
• European Deindustrialization
• The Chemical Sector Improves Lives and Lowers Emissions
• The Chemical Industry Welcomes Strong, Predictable and Risk Based Regulation
• Looking Ahead

Dr. Gross’ testimony addressed:

• Boeing develops, manufactures, and services commercial planes, defense products, and space systems.
• Safety and quality are the core of everything the company does.
• Boeing is a downstream user of chemicals.
• Once promising candidate chemical products are offered, the company thoroughly evaluates them to ensure they will meet performance requirements, as well as those of the Federal Aviation Administration and military specifications and can be safely incorporated into its manufacturing processes and product design.
• Aerospace industry faces unique challenges when it comes to chemical material use and replacement due to complex FAA certification requirements and military specifications that govern its products and services.
• Finding a replacement for a chemical used in the formulation of a resilient composite system can be a challenging and lengthy process that includes identification, testing, and qualifications of alternative formulations developed by its suppliers.
• If regulatory changes impacting chemical material use and replacement or changes in the chemical marketplace happen too fast, aerospace companies may not have sufficient time to find viable replacements and to demonstrate that they satisfy all of our regulatory and contractual requirements.
• Aerospace manufacturers are also impacted by delays in new chemical reviews and restrictions on new chemicals.
• Boeing has also experienced challenges when evaluating new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act exemption for research and development.
• If there is uncertainty whether an R&D chemical will be approved by EPA in time to meet internal milestones for certification of a future aircraft, then our researchers may choose to exclude that candidate chemical early in the development process and choose one that is already approved by EPA.

Dr. Tracey Woodruff’s testimony addressed:

• Toxic chemicals take a measurable toll on people’s health.
• Health and economic benefits of environmental regulations.
• Americans want safe products.
• TSCA and its importance to the health of Americans.
• New chemical program – and the cost of getting it wrong.
• United States Environmental Protection Agency science.
• EPA’s mission.

A link to the Hearing and witnesses’ written statements can be found here.